HTA takes Housing Architect of the Year and Gold Award at AYA Building Design Awards

HTA Design has won Housing Architect of the Year, a regenerative design title and the Gold Award at the AYA Building Design Awards, the practice announced on 8 October 2026.

HTA said the judges praised its use of modular construction and its sensitive approach to upgrading existing places, pointing to its work on the Sutton Estate in Chelsea. They also commended what HTA described as its holistic vision connecting buildings and landscapes.

The practice's announcement names the second award "Regenerative Architect of the Year". HTA's own 1 July 2026 shortlist post listed the category as "Regenerative Design Architect of the Year".

In that 1 July post, HTA said it had secured three shortlists at the awards: Housing Architect of the Year, Regenerative Design Architect of the Year and Public Realm and Placemaking Architect of the Year.

The Sutton Estate

The Sutton Estate scheme, for Clarion Housing Group, is the project HTA said the judges cited. HTA led the renovation of four residential blocks on the 100-year-old social housing estate, which it said conserved the Edwardian Baroque character established in 1913 while delivering sustainable, affordable homes.

Clarion, which was granted planning permission for the works by Kensington and Chelsea Council, said the refurbishment of four empty blocks would deliver 81 new social rented homes. Residents in the remaining 303 flats on the estate were to receive new kitchens and bathrooms and other upgrades. Clarion described the estate as one of the earliest examples of purpose-built social housing in Britain.

Clare Miller, chief executive of Clarion Housing Group, said: "For over a century, the Sutton Estate has been at the heart of the community in Kensington and Chelsea."

According to HTA, breathable wall insulation and a ground source heat pump system cut energy demand at the estate by 75%. The practice said the retrofit used breathable internal wood fibre wall insulation, and that the heat pump system is served by 28 boreholes drilled to depths of up to 180 metres. Durkan was main contractor and Kensa supplied the ground source heat pumps, HTA said.

HTA also said the project's biodiversity net gain earned it London's first Building with Nature accreditation. The practice's project page gives that gain as 39%; its post of 1 October 2026 puts it at 40%.

A run of awards

The AYA wins follow a separate award for the same scheme a week earlier. On 1 October 2026 HTA announced the Sutton Estate had won the Decarbonisation at Scale category at the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards 2026.

The practice was also named AJ100 Practice of the Year 2025, announced on 23 June 2025. In that announcement HTA said it had become a registered B Corporation with a score of 136.1, which it said included the highest environmental score of any UK architecture practice, and that it had delivered 100% affordable, net zero homes in Greenwich.